NEW YORK — Of the four openly gay members of Congress, the two longest-serving stalwarts are vacating their seats. Instead of fretting, their activist admirers are excited about a record number of gays vying to win seats in the next Congress — and to make history in the process.

When Congress reconvenes in January, it could have its first openly gay Asian-American, Mark Takano of California; its first openly bisexual member, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona; and its first openly gay senator, Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin.

In all, eight openly gay candidates are running as major-party nominees for the House of Representatives, including the two incumbents — Democrats Jared Polis of Colorado and David Cicilline of Rhode Island.

Among them, there's one gay Republican, Richard Tisei, seeking a House seat from Massachusetts.